McAdam: Limp lineup likely a temporary condition for Red Sox

For the past week, the Red Sox' pitching has been so good that it was almost easy to forget that the offense had gone quiet.

With Garrett Richards limiting the Mets to a single run Tuesday, it didn't matter than his teammates scored just two runs. The same thing happened Wednesday when Nick Pivetta and three relievers blanked the Mets and it almost went unnoticed that they were provided with exactly one run of support.

Even dating back to Sunday, the Seattle Mariners were so busy walking the ballpark -- six inside the first two meetings -- the fact that the Sox had accumulated just five hits was, in the end, inconsequential.

But on Thursday night, with the defense suddenly slipshod and the bullpen suddenly leaky, the lack of offense finally caught up to them. For third straight game, the Red Sox underachieved, and this time, it cost them in a 4-1 loss to the the Texas Rangers.

In dropping the opener of the four-game series, the Red Sox produced all of three hits. Over the last three games, they've totaled four whole runs. And at no point in the last four games have the Red Sox had more than five hits. The fact that they were able to win three of those games constitutes a minor miracle.

Gone, for now, is the powerful lineup that earlier this month averaged eight runs per game during the nine-game winning streak that turned their season around in a hurry.

"Overall, it's been a grind the last week, to be honest with you,'' acknowledged Alex Cora. "We haven't been able to do too much.''



For much of the last few weeks, the lineup has succeeded on the strength of its top half, with the 2-3-4-5 combination of Alex Verdugo, J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers supplying most of the production. But when one or two of those hitters cool, as has been the case more recently, the Sox don't have anywhere else to go.

The bottom of the lineup is rather one dimensional, featuring power bats like Franchy Cordero, Hunter Renfroe and Bobby Dalbec. But together, that trio has combined for just two homers and 11 extra-base hits in the first 25 games. Meanwhile, they've combined for 66 strikeouts.

If those three had two or three homers each, it would be a different story. But for now, the Sox are getting next-to-no sock from the free swingers that anchor the lower half of the order. You would think that, based on their strength and a bit of luck, they'd each have run into a few by now. They haven't.

Just as inevitably, some of the big bats have cooled. Before exiting with a migraine in the eighth inning, Martinez had run his hitless streak to nine and is just 2-for-14 over the last five games. And oddly, Martinez has yet to get locked in against lefties, batting just .241 for the season.

Verdugo, meanwhile, continues to get on base at a steady clip, but hasn't driven the ball much of late, with just three extra-base hits (two doubles and a triple) over the last nine games. And because the Sox are getting so little from their bottom third and leadoff man Kike Hernandez is getting on-base at just a .271 clip, there's often no one on base when Verdugo comes to the plate.

To be sure, there are some extenuating circumstances at work here, too. The Red Sox, did, after all, just get through facing the game's best pitcher, Jacob deGrom, on Wednesday night -- and lived to tell about it. On Thursday, they drew Kyle Gibson, who, while not known as an ace, is nonetheless a veteran pitcher who knows what to do. Predictably, Gibson kept the ball down against the Sox, getting eight of his 18 outs on the ground.

Things may not get better right away. Martinez is likely to be out of the lineup Friday as he recovers from a migraine attack and Cordero is slated to play the next two games as the Red Sox give him what might be a final chance to get untracked at the plate before optioning him to get some work at Worcester.

Eventually, of course, the Red Sox will hit again. There are enough established run producers to assure that. All lineups eventually go through periodic slumps; it's part of every season.

And given their druthers, the Red Sox would far prefer to weather a temporary offensive dip than worry about their starting pitching, which has, with a couple of exceptions, far outstripped expectations through the first 25 games.

"This is a good offense,'' vowed Cora. "It's just a matter of getting back and start doing the things that we do best -- compete out there and hit the ball the other way. And when we do that, we become a good, good offense.''